It doesn’t happen much that I interview a band based on 4 songs. But when I listened to the new music I received and after reading the story of the whole process I got seduced and hope I can introduce you to this very rich and interesting one! Sadly HeikeLanghans couldn’t join us, but I’m convinced she’s already working on her next project!
My classic starter when I interview a band for the first time: why this name and what does it mean?
Hello there! First of all I would like to thank you about this interview. Fragment Soul in a free translation means "all of the pieces of a splintered soul, viewed together as one".
If I read the bio it must have been a real adventure to gather everybody and start recording as it almost reads like the start of Lord of The Rings?
Indeed! A fellowship! (laughing). And yes it was a really great adventure to gather all those people and make that works so we could have the final form of Axiom of Choice. It took us many months maybe a year to achieve that.
You are from Greece, I know from a friend who lives in Tessaloniki that COVID-19 hit really hard (even hospitals had to close), so how did you manage to even record an album and stay safe and healthy?
We have been lucky I guess, because during the period we starting recording the Covid-19 nearly started. But also the will and the passion from the members of the band, the guests and the studios to make this happen was huge!
Axiom of Choice is the title of the album. I noticed Spiros is a math teacher. Was it Spiros choice?
Yes, Spiros is a mathematician and he is actually working as a math teacher. He used this title more as a reference that every human has he own will for his/her choices rather than as a scientific principal.
The artwork is really great and fits really nicely with the music, was it easy to get it done the way you wanted it?
Thank you! Dimitris Tzortzis is the one who worked out and created the artwork. He is a really talented artist and we had a very easy and smooth process going on during the crafting of the artwork.
A soul inhabiting two bodies almost sounds like a contradiction as for as far as I know it’s rather a body inhabiting two souls then vice versa? How did you come to that title?
This title actually fits perfectly with the lyrics of the song and is a quote of Aristotle, one of the greatest Greek philosophers of human existence.
I described your music on this album as a mix between Anathema and Draconian (that last one for sure due to Heike singing along). How do you feel about that?
Anathema and Draconian are each one of the greatest band in the genre. But I believe we are more into prog metal but yes bands like those have/had an impact to us.
I also dropped Steven Wilson as possible influence, how far am I away from the truth?
Steven Wilson is a personal favorite of one of our main composers Jimmy Louvros so you are again straight to the point!
There are only 4 tracks, why only 4?
It’s not that we decided that it had to be just 4 tracks, it just happend. We were focused to write songs to finish the whole concept that was the point. So we created three big songs and the 4th song is the outro of the album with "short length" around 5:30 minutes
It has been a crazy year for Heike as she participated on at least 3 albums in just one year. How did you end up asking her and getting her on board?
I got introduced to Heike by accident! I mean I was listening the Trees of Eternity album back to 2015 then YouTube popped me to the Hallatar song that Heike did a guest. Till that time I had no intention neither Jimmy to add female vocals to that album but when I listened to her vocals I instantly decided inside my head that her vocals would suit perfect to the outro of the song "A soul inhabiting two bodies" even in its demo phase.
Its a long story how I figured it out to reach her but at the end of the day the thing that matters is that he liked really much the style of this band and she said yes to that collaboration with ease.
Was it easy to get Egan O’Rourke on board?
The story with Egan is different. Since I was teenager and I found Daylight Dies at Youtube was an instant love. It’s an amazing band. This band is for me in the top 5 bands of doom metal, period!
So for me was a "must" to have Egan on this project. Again the things went really smooth since he liked really much the role we gave him and he was really excited about this project.
He sings on the song called A Choice between two Evils. Mixing it with Heike’s voice, how did that happen? It really sounds as if they where standing next to each other, but I think the reality is far from it?
That's the job they did at Fascination Street Studios. Linus Corneliusson (mixing) and Tony Lindgen (mastering) are one of a kind. Their professional approach and how fast they understood the sound we wanted for this album was phenomenal.
Also that period Heike was in Sweden and Egan at U.S.A so they weren't standing next to each other (laughing).
What are the 2 Evils in this song?
The two evils are the two personalities of Kaite the main character of the concept. Also its the first time I’m telling this public, the story that is behind the lyrics (aka the concept) is ready and soon the preorders will start! Can't wait to share with everyone out there! You can check our social media and our Bandcamp that will be exclusively for preorders there.
You already launched 2 clips and they are absolutely amazing! How did you fix that?
Thank you very much. The clip of "A soul inhabiting two bodies" was our first one and we wanted to give to everyone an idea how the album would be and how the artwork was.
The clip of "A choice between two Evils" is something really special for us. Thanks to Anders Jacobsson I had the chance to be introduced to Natalia Drepina.
At once when I saw her work I said "ok she is the one!" I can say that is a clip that fits perfectly the music giving the proper atmosphere.
Who else was on your bucket list but couldn’t make it to join you?
I’m completely honest with you. None else except Heike and Egan was in the list!
What else can we no expect for the future? Gigs? More new tracks? More clips?
At the moment we are focusing to be ready for upcoming gigs. Also I can officially say that we are working for our second album already!
Is there something I should have asked too?
Thank you for the invitation once again. I hope we can do again a conversation was really fun and great!
People just be ready for the book I believe everyone will enjoy and will help them understand more of the concept of Axiom of Choice.
